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In recent days everything that revolves around Formula 1 has been very focused on Adrian Newey, the technical director of the Red Bull team. Newey is 65 years old and is considered by experts to be one of the best racing car designers ever: those who talk about him often define him as a “genius”. He has worked at Red Bull since 2006 but Thursday BBC Sport, one of the most reliable media in the world, wrote based on its sources that Newey would have communicated to Red Bull that he wanted to leave the team soon. At the moment, however, there is nothing official. The reason why he would leave Red Bull is that he would be destabilized by the complicated internal situation, mainly due to the still unresolved case involving the team principal (i.e. the head of the team) Christian Horner, accused by an employee of inappropriate behavior towards he.
There has been a lot of talk about the accusations against Horner in recent months. Red Bull conducted an internal investigation and decided, somewhat surprisingly, to acquit Horner and suspend the employee (whose identity was not revealed). Horner therefore remained the team principal but many, both in Formula 1 and within the team itself, are unhappy with how Red Bull handled the matter, minimizing it a lot. According to the specialized site The Raceit is increasingly plausible that either Horner himself will leave Red Bull, or other key elements will leave, such as driver Max Verstappen, winner of the last three World Championships, and Adrian Newey.
Adrian Newey e Christian Horner (Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images)
Newey has a contract until 2025 with Red Bull of which all the clauses are not known, so it is not clear whether he could potentially release himself at the end of the current season and agree with another team for the next one. In any case, it seems that he wants to leave Red Bull but not Formula 1, and this is above all the reason why there is so much discussion about it: fans, newspapers and professionals are insistently asking themselves where Newey will go, because one of his transfer could have a very significant impact on Formula 1. All the other teams would like to have him, considering his ability to design fast and cutting-edge single-seaters. Those who can afford it, however, both due to economic availability and above all due to the level of competitiveness (Red Bull has been dominating the World Championship for three years), are few: Ferrari, Mercedes and Aston Martin.
In Italy there is a lot of talk about it, especially because there are great hopes that Newey could go to Ferrari, and there are several reasons why it is a possibility considered plausible. The first is that in the first races of this year’s World Championship they are proving to be the second best team after Red Bull. Then there is the fact that Ferrari, despite not having won a Drivers’ World Championship since 2007, is still considered the most prestigious team of all, and from next year will have as its driver one of the best drivers ever, the British Lewis Hamilton (l another will still be the Monegasque Charles Leclerc). Last year, in an episode of Beyond the Gridthe official podcast of Formula 1, Newey had said that he regretted never having worked for Ferrari and with successful drivers such as Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.
Adrian Newey con Max Verstappen e Lewis Hamilton (Clive Mason/Getty Images)
La Gazzetta dello Sport on Friday it opened its paper edition with three pages dedicated to the news, describing Newey variously in its headlines as a “magician”, “F1 genius”, “lord of the wind” and “undisputed master of aerodynamics”: in short, there is great anticipation around his possible arrival at Ferrari. But beyond the emphatic tones, during his career Newey was actually a great innovator, often designing such advanced solutions for cars that Formula 1 on some occasions had to change the regulations, to prevent Red Bull from having too much of an advantage from certain changes.
Those who are not very familiar with Formula 1 might perhaps be surprised by the great attention dedicated to a more technical figure, but enthusiasts of this sport are now accustomed to knowing well even very specific and less visible aspects, such as the work of those who design cars, considered at least as important as that of those who drive them. In this context, Newey has been one of the most important designers ever, and the most decisive, in recent decades. In all he contributed to the victory of thirteen drivers’ titles (4 with Williams, 2 with McLaren and 7 with Red Bull), twelve constructors’ titles and over 200 grand prix: no designer has achieved so many successes.
For the moment, however, there is no official news: his arrival at Ferrari is only a hypothesis. Various media, including itself BBCthey mentioned a very rich proposal from Aston Martin, which can offer Newey a lot of money and the possibility of working with Fernando Alonso, but is currently not a competitive team for winning the World Championship.
In 2026, however, new regulations will come into force, which will change the single-seaters a lot (the engines will become heavier and will have a greater electrical part than the current one, while the weight and length of the cars will be reduced, for example). This means that the teams will at least initially have more leeway in designing the new cars from scratch. In recent years Newey has reduced the time he dedicates to Formula 1, also focusing on other sports (sailing, MotoGP) and delegating part of his daily operational work. This does not mean that, especially starting from 2026, having him in charge of car development could be a winning choice for any team with ambitions of success.
2024-04-26 15:19:27
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